Consumers Energy recently announced a new website that allows customers to compare vehicle costs. The choice engine platform, powered by Enervee, spans roughly 2300 conventional (gasoline/diesel), hybrid and electric (plug-in hybrid/battery electric) vehicles for the 2018/2019/2020 model years.
The unique features and customer benefits of Enervee Cars for Consumers Energy include:
- Side-by-side car comparisons on criteria that consumers care most about
- The total cost to buy and fuel the vehicle, personalized to driving habits (CLEARCOST)
- Enervee Score for Cars, our zero to 100 vehicle efficiency index
- One-stop-shop to locate nearby public EV charger locations, request dealer offers via TRUECar/Tesla and find out about available incentives.
“The share of EVs in new car sales in Michigan remains below 1%. Enervee’s Choice Engines make it compelling for the 99% of car shoppers still in the market to purchase a conventional combustion engine vehicle to go electric. We’ve seen this in our published research and real-world results with utility partners,“ said Matthias Kurwig, CEO Enervee.
Enervee Cars was deployed under the umbrella of PowerMIDrive, a major utility initiative to promote access to EV chargers across the state of Michigan. Consumers Energy has been a strong promoter of electric vehicles, offering its first special charging rates nearly a decade ago. It was also one of the early energy providers in the country to pilot an incentive program for home charging stations. The platform integrates information to address related concerns, such as EV battery range.
Regardless of the density of charging infrastructure, car shoppers still need to take the decision to go electric. As pointed out by Advanced Energy Economy in their “EVs 101” policy primer for regulators, one of the biggest barriers to customer adoption of ZEVs is consumer awareness:
“When consumers are armed with a simple and credible way to choose vehicle models that are zero-emission, inexpensive to operate, and do not cost more to purchase, 84% say they would be likely (45% extremely likely) to opt for an electric over a conventional car model.”
An EV Convening on the topic of consumer education organized by the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council back in November 2018 was Enervee’s first opportunity to introduce Enervee Cars to stakeholders in Michigan; eight months later, Enervee Cars is live and helping Michiganders go electric.
